Quick replacement air value

ABSTRACT

An exterior installable air valve for a tire rim using an exterior operated nut compressing a gasket against a wedge to expand the gasket for sealing to a wheel rim.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to and is a continuation in part ofU.S. Provisional Application 62/357,844 filed by Neil Johnson on Jul. 1,2016 entitled Quick Replacement Air Valve.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not Applicable.

RESERVATION OF RIGHTS

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialwhich is subject to intellectual property rights such as but not limitedto copyright, trademark, and/or trade dress protection. The owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records but otherwise reserves all rightswhatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to improvements in air valves. Moreparticularly, the invention relates to improvements particularly suitedfor providing quick replacement of tire air valves without requiringremoval of the tire from the rim. In particular, the present inventionrelates specifically to a wedge biased rim seal air valve.

2. Description of the Known Art

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, wheel valves forinflating tires mounted to wheel rims are known in various forms.Patents disclosing information relevant to wheel valves include: U.S.Pat. No. 9,272,588, issued to Groom, et al. on Mar. 1, 2016 entitledMethod and apparatus for replacing a tire valve stem without having toraise the vehicle, remove the wheel, or tire from the wheel; U.S. Pat.No. 3,750,258, issued to Sampo Aug. 7, 1973 INSERTION TOOL FOR TIREVALVE STEMS U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,580, issued to Story on Mar. 24, 1992entitled Apparatus for installing and removing valve stems U.S. Pat. No.6,574,843, issued to Meadows on Jun. 10, 2003 entitled Method andapparatus for installing and replacing valve stems. Each of thesepatents is hereby expressly incorporated by reference in their entirety.

From these prior references, it may be seen that these prior art patentsare very limited in their teaching and utilization, and an improvedvalve stem is needed to overcome these limitations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to an improved externally replaceablewheel valve using a wedge expandable gasket. In the preferredembodiment, a tool free stem installation is provided by using anexternal wingnut to provide the wedge expansion forces. In accordancewith one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, a wedge valvestem is provided using an expandable gasket to seal against the wheelstem aperture and the external face of the wheel rim. These and otherobjects and advantages of the present invention, along with features ofnovelty appurtenant thereto, will appear or become apparent by reviewingthe following detailed description of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following drawings, which form a part of the specification andwhich are to be construed in conjunction therewith, and in which likereference numerals have been employed throughout wherever possible toindicate like parts in the various views:

FIG. 1 is a schematic exploded parts view of a wedge valve stem.

FIG. 2 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof before riminstallation.

FIG. 3 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof inserted beforeexpansion.

FIG. 4 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof inserted andexpanded.

FIG. 5 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof at the threadcontrolled expansion limit.

FIG. 6 is an assembled perspective view with a wing nut.

FIG. 7 is an assembled perspective view with a faceted nut.

FIG. 8 is a schematic exploded parts view of a smaller than hole sizeflange valve stem.

FIG. 9 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof before riminstallation.

FIG. 10 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof inserted beforeexpansion.

FIG. 11 is a schematic assembled parts view thereof inserted andexpanded.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As shown in FIGS. 1 through 5 of the drawings, one exemplary embodimentof the present invention is generally shown as a wedge air valve 100.

The air valve assembly 100 is mounted to a tire rim 10 using a valveaperture 12 having an aperture diameter 14. The tire rim 10 also has arim thickness 16 measured from the external rim face 18 to the internalrim face 20.

The wedge air valve assembly 100 is constructed from a core 200,exterior accessible nut 300, T shaped pressure slider 400, elastic seal500, and a wedge valve stem 600.

The core 200 includes a core body 202 defining a valve seat 204, a corethread 206, and a tool flat 208, with the operation controlled by apressure stem 210. This is a typical Schrader valve construction for ashort type valve core. The core 200 mounts into the wedge valve stem 600with the core thread 206 engaging the aperture thread 610 and the valveseat 204 sealably engaging the reducing core seat 612.

The exterior accessible nut 300 is of typical construction with a nutbody 302, internal aperture nut thread 304, and facets or wing ears 306.The nut thread 304 engages the neck thread 630 the engage the wedge 650against the t seal 500.

The pressure slider 400 can be a typical flat washer with a hole in it,but for the preferred embodiment uses a T shaped slider body 402 with anut end 404, offset arm 406, expanding shoulder 408, and seal end 410.The T shaped slider body defines a slider aperture 412 that fits aroundthe neck 620 of the wedge valve stem 600.

The t seal 500 is an elastomer such as a rubber or polymer typicallyused for tire valves. This t seal 500 is made with a seal body 502formed with a slider end 504 having a thickness with a face seal 506transitioning through a reducing shoulder 508, to an inward arm 510 withan arm seal 511, to a wedge end 512. The reducing shoulder 508 sealsagainst the external rim face 18, and the arm seal 511 engages againstthe aperture face 13 of the valve aperture 12. The T seal defines awedge aperture 514 for mounting onto the wedge valve stem 600. Differentdiameters are used for different sized tire valve replacements. We havealso discovered that a harder, but still compressible, urethane materialalso works for this application. The urethane resists sharp edges on thetire rim effectively.

The wedge valve stem 600 is a machined metal part beginning at an outerend 602 and continuing to the inner end 604 with a stem aperture 606flowably connecting the ends 602, 604. The length of the stem changesfor varying tire sizes of dually type applications with longer stems.The stem aperture 606 begins at the outer end 602 with a core well 608having an aperture thread 610 and a reducing core seat 612 flowablyconnected to an inner tunnel 614 extending to the inner end 604. Thecore 200 is threaded into the core well 608 until sealably engaging thereducing core seat 612.

The outer end 602 is extended away from the external rim face 18 of thetire rim 10 via a neck 620 having a neck length 622 including a neckthread 630 with a thread length 632. The neck thread 630 terminates atthe stop offset 640 to define an offset length 642. The offset lengthcontrols the maximum pressure that can be applied to the t seal 500 bythe wedge 650.

The neck 620 transitions to the wedge 650. The wedge 650 includes awedge angle 652 expanding from an inner wedge width 656 to an outerwedge width 654 along a wedge length 658. The wedge 650 ends at aninwardly angled insertion nose 660 transitioning to a nose reduction 662that simply makes it easier to insert the valve assembly 100.

FIG. 1 shows the exploded parts view of the wedge air valve assembly100. FIG. 2 shows how the core 200 is mounted into the wedge valve stem600 and how the exterior accessible nut 300, T shaped pressure slider400, and elastic seal 500 are mounted onto the neck 620 of the valvestem 600. The nut thread 304 of the exterior accessible nut 300 engagesthe neck thread 630, but note that the wedge 650 has not yet engaged theelastic seal 502. FIG. 3 shows the assembly 100 installed through therim aperture 12. The reducing shoulder 508 frictionally engages theexternal rim face 18 and the wedge aperture 514 frictionally engages thevalve stem 600 to hold the stem 600 in place when the nut 300 istightened. FIG. 4 shows the wedge 650 engaging the seal 500 and bothpressuring the face seal 506 against the external rim face 18 and thearm seal 511 against the aperture face 13 such that two seals are formedto enhance operation of the assembly 100. FIG. 5 shows how the exterioraccessible nut 300 can be further tightened for additional pressure.FIG. 5 also shows how the travel of the exterior accessible nut 300 canbe limited to limit the force applied to the seal 500 by the position ofthe termination of the neck thread 630 at the stop offset 640 ifdesired.

FIG. 8 through 11 show the smaller than hole size flange valve stem 700.The smaller than hole size flange valve stem 700 has a smaller than holeflange 702 that can pass through the valve aperture 12 and then compressthe seal 500 to expand the diameter of the seal 500 against the valveaperture 12. This again uses an insertion nose 660 to ease installation.

Reference numerals used throughout the detailed description and thedrawings correspond to the following elements:

Tire rim 10 Valve aperture 12 Aperture face 13 Aperture diameter 14 Rimthickness 16 External rim face 18 Internal rim face 20 Air valveassembly 100 Core 200 Core body 202 Valve seat 204 Core thread 206 Toolflat 208 Pressure stem 210 Exterior accessible nut 300 Nut body 302 Nutthread 304 Facets or wing ears 306 Pressure slider 400 Slider body 402Nut end 404 Offset arm 406 Expanding shoulder 408 Seal end 410 Slideraperture 412 Seal 500 Seal body 502 Slider end 504 Face seal 506Reducing shoulder 508 Inward arm 510 Arm seal 511 Wedge end 512 Wedgeaperture 514 Wedge valve stem 600 Outer end 602 Inner end 604 Stemaperture 606 Core well 608 Aperture thread 610 Reducing core seat 612inner tunnel 614 Neck 620 Neck length 622 Neck thread 630 Thread length632 Stop Offset 640 Offset length 642 Wedge 650 Wedge angle 652 Outerwedge width 654 Inner wedge width 656 Wedge length 658 Insertion Nose660 Nose reduction 662

From the foregoing, it will be seen that this invention well adapted toobtain all the ends and objects herein set forth, together with otheradvantages which are inherent to the structure. It will also beunderstood that certain features and subcombinations are of utility andmay be employed without reference to other features and subcombinations.This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims. Manypossible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing fromthe scope thereof. Therefore, it is to be understood that all matterherein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

When interpreting the claims of this application, method claims may berecognized by the explicit use of the word ‘method’ in the preamble ofthe claims and the use of the ‘ing’ tense of the active word. Methodclaims should not be interpreted to have particular steps in aparticular order unless the claim element specifically refers to aprevious element, a previous action, or the result of a previous action.Apparatus claims may be recognized by the use of the word ‘apparatus’ inthe preamble of the claim and should not be interpreted to have ‘meansplus function language’ unless the word ‘means’ is specifically used inthe claim element. The words ‘defining,’ ‘having,’ or ‘including’ shouldbe interpreted as open ended claim language that allows additionalelements or structures. Finally, where the claims recite “a” or “afirst” element of the equivalent thereof, such claims should beunderstood to include incorporation of one or more such elements,neither requiring nor excluding two or more such elements.

What is claimed is:
 1. An air valve apparatus for a tire rim includingan external face defining a valve aperture with an aperture diameter,the assembly comprising: a wedge valve stem with an inside and anoutside including stem threads and a wedge; a valve core mounted insidethe wedge valve stem; a seal mounted on the outside of the wedge valvestem; an exterior accessible nut engageable with the stem threads,wherein movement of the exterior accessible nut on the stem treads movesthe seal on the wedge to expand the seal.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1,further comprising: the exterior accessible nut including a nut bodywith facets.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising: theexterior accessible nut including a nut body with wing ears.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, further comprising: a pressure slider positionedbetween the seal and the exterior accessible nut.
 5. The apparatus ofclaim 4 the pressure slider, further comprising: a slider body includingan expanding shoulder positioned against the seal.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 4 the seal, further comprising: a seal body including a reducingshoulder.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, the stem threads ending at a stopoffset for limiting the pressure applied to the seal.
 8. The apparatusof claim 1, the wedge valve stem including an insertion nose with a nosereduction.